


Apanthropinization

by mabel_but_slytherin



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Bittersweet, Dark Dipper, Dipper Falls, Gen, Kidnapping, Paranoia, expansion on a sentence story prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-17
Updated: 2015-04-17
Packaged: 2018-03-23 11:31:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3766504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mabel_but_slytherin/pseuds/mabel_but_slytherin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>Withdrawal from human concerns or the human world.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Dipper didn't want to leave Gravity Falls come the end of summer, and was already dreading the day he and Mabel would be forced to get on the bus back to Piedmont. But with all of the mysteries and secrets only they knew of in the woods, who said they had to leave?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Apanthropinization

**Author's Note:**

> AN: So despite having blogged about Gravity Falls on tumblr for a few months, this is my first foray into the fandom here that is not in some crossover form with the exception of Boscaresque, my collection of sentence stories. Last week I did a special update ending with some of the alternate titled of that stuffily-titled fic, and Effervescent Dreamer left a really kind review asking for an expansion of one of them. Here it is :)
> 
> Timeline note: this story is not compliant with Not What He Seems in that Dipper has not yet discovered the author. There are, however, the most minor of spoilers for NMM, so anything up to that is canon.
> 
> One last note about the sentence story itself: this sentence is in two parts because after finishing I thought it was a bit too run-on and had a nice break, but I didn't want to just delete the second half. Replace the question mark with a comma and it should still work grammatically as one sentence so it still counts.

**Apanthropinization**   _withdrawal from human concerns or the human world_

After all he had seen, all he had done, how could anyone, even Mabel, expect him to leave it all behind to go back to school and an education that seemed useless in the face of power that could turn straw into gold, drive a thousand men mad, or literally shape reality under it's thumb? and as Dipper turned over in bed to look at his sister sleeping as soundly as a magical princess, he realized how wrong it was for his twin to simply give up the supernatural world where she could be anything (she could be queen!) for such a mundane life, and the idea lit like a fire in his soul that no matter how much she might initially protest, she was his sister, and it was his duty to look out for her best interest.

* * *

Soon it would be the end of summer.

The thought had been plaguing Dipper for the past few days, as it scourged upon the hearts of every child who feared going back to school and wistfully wondered where the two and a half months of vacation had gone. Dipper had never felt the sensation before, and had always considered his peers insane when they wished that they didn't have to go to school. While the twelve year old hated the social environment and bullies that elementary and especially middle school brought, it was worth it to Dipper in the pursuit of learning.

He just had never dreamed of Gravity Falls being so  _incredible_.

It was easy to lose track of it all in what was literally the perfect summer. The journal could be frustrating with the difficulty of its codes, and Grunkle Stan, Wendy, Soos, and even Mabel could be nearly unbearable at times, but Dipper had seen things that he had only dreamed and theorized of being real, had found evidence and friends who believed him, and made memories that were as magical as the barf fairies living in the woods.

But Dipper hadn't considered his foreboding at the inevitable end of summer with the same bittersweet determination that his peers did. The boy only felt the fear at leaving codes unsolved and mysteries unanswered, and locked himself up in the attic to try to discover the identity of the author.

Between  _his_  magic,  _his_  mysteries, and  _his_  journal, the boy never even considered that other pre-teens had the very same fears.

Mabel would most often come into his (their) room and plead with him to come out and spend time with her. She had spent the past few days languishing in the late-August lament with Candy and Grenda, resolved to fill her summer scrapbook with the moments she shared with those who mattered, even if she didn't fulfill her dream of the perfect summer romance or have the picture-perfect life that Pacifica taught her wasn't everything. But the older twin had said her goodbyes when Grenda left to spend the last week of vacation in Austria with Marius, and hanging out with just Candy felt like breaking some sisterly code.

Thinking of sisterly code made Mabel realize that the one person she wanted to make memories with in Gravity Falls was the best friend she could recall them with all year, the brother who was by her side often enough to practically be her own living scrapbook. But Dipper was acting paranoid and obsessive again, getting too little sleep and having too much anxiety about leaving to take advantage of what he has here before they left.

The best cure would be simply hanging out with Soos and Wendy, watching movies and maybe even going on a monster hunt. But Dipper only saw the unsolved mysteries closing in on him, and everything else was shoved aside as irrelevant details.

And despite knowing that she meant the world to her brother, being lumped into that statement with the growing pile of unwashed clothes taking over Dipper's half of the room hurt.

But Dipper had never been very good at seeing the bigger picture, at bringing in the dash of silly required to make a secret document into a paper hat, at listening to the second meaning in spoken words, at recognizing when his words or actions accidentally hurt someone. He especially had a hard time connecting to other people, who always had different interests, different priorities, who wrote off the forces that could destroy the universe as fantasies and chose to turn a blind eye and forget.

He had a hard time understanding that just because people weren't as obsessed as he was didn't mean they didn't care.

That's how in his sleep deprived mind his sister's attempts to calm him down, to make him take a break, to have fun and appreciate the simpler magics of Gravity Falls twisted into threats of dragging him away from all he held dear. The calendar she kept on the wall filled with activities for the perfect summer became a reminder of the inevitability of the Fall. And the giant red X marking the day they were to go home followed by blank spaces for the emptiness of Piedmont goaded him as if she couldn't wait for the monotony to return.

And like a human feast turned to sand when compared to that of the fey, the knowledge and excitement of school made Dipper's heart wither simply because his honors textbooks were not the same as the coded journal. The wonder of science meant nothing when so many of its laws were broken in his backyard. How could studying even Shakespeare compare to the power to make all of his stories true?

That's when the demons in Dipper's mind started slowly twisting his perceptions of anything relating to the human world. He had spent so long studying in the attic (he hadn't left in almost two weeks!), how could anyone understand what was happening in his world without living it? How could his world of magic and wonder and dreams breathed into parchment and ink by a mysterious author be even remotely similar to the experiences of anyone ignorantly stuck in the outside?

The leap that the Author had based the journal on that very outside world was one that Dipper was not mature enough to make.

It made up the final straw was that lead Dipper to hide away as he did, convinced that his fairy tale was somehow superior to the outside world. While before the secrets of Gravity Falls had been an adventure to be shared, discoveries to be made and published, studying the powerful deeper secrets of the Journal only made the Trust No One mantra stronger in his mind, and the list of those worthy enough to share it were rapidly dwindling. If other kids could barely handle leaving behind summer camps and mosquito bites for an education that would make their lives better, how could he be expected to willingly leave a well of opportunities that could literally bring the world to its knees for a life of normalcy?

The part of him that was still a brother desperately hoped he wouldn't have to cross Mabel's name off that list.

He sat wide awake the last night that they were scheduled to spend in Gravity Falls, having vowed to himself that he could make up the sleep back in Piedmont but would never be able to replicate time spent in Oregon. Flipping through the Journal at a slow pace that was more filled with sentiment than purpose this early in the morning, Dipper found himself distracted even by the light breeze from the triangular window Mabel had opened before she retired, insisting her little brother get at least a bit of fresh air.

Breathing in the scent of the musky attic wood and hearing the siren song of cricket chirps, Dipper's tired mind considered for the first time the possibility of simply refusing to go back to California. He had never been the rebellious type of kid to consider running away, but the thought of staying in these woods forever was far more appealing that being trapped in a classroom with other kids, locked away from his potential and his real home.

Dipper was even starting to make a list of how he would go about it when a snore from the other side of the room drowned out the nature sounds and broke his concentration. Looking over Dipper saw Mabel twisting in her sleep, her worried expression facing him where she fell asleep watching him work slowly evening out as she flipped out her back and draped one arm over Waddles. The pig snorted and snuggled closer into the girl, as if knowing even in sleep that come tomorrow morning his owner would get on a bus and leave him behind to an uncle who may or may not barbecue him.

The chaos of the morning to come was completely lost on his sister however, whose snoring had leveled into soft breathing that could've been associated with a sleeping princess. She was at peace here, and while part of him screamed that she had to right to be resting when they would have to leave come morning, another part of him was reassured that his sister felt as subconsciously comfortable here as he did.

Listening to the soft sounds the pair made, Dipper knew he would never be satisfied without his sister, even in Gravity Falls. What use was making plans to run away if he couldn't bring her?

As a moth flew in through the window to fly towards the flame of the gas lantern on the nightstand, Dipper considered trying to take Mabel along with him. But there was no time to convince here to come: he didn't have the heart to disturb her dreams and it would be too late by morning. His noodle arms were too weak to try to bring her along, and no matter how much Dipper hated coming second to Mabel she would be heartbroken at leaving all of her friends behind. Dipper knew that no matter how much she might pretend, she was too social to ever be happy with just him.

The attic door creaked open slightly. The path through the room was immediately apparent in drawing a cross-breeze; the stronger wind instantly making its presence known, taunting the flame to flicker and nearly die out, pushing the door slowly open all the way, squeaking its rusty hinges and whispering as it caressed Dipper's unkempt hair and beckoned the boy to follow it into the outside world. Most importantly, the draft took the chance to run its fingers down his back and along the spine of the Journal sitting on the mystery hunter's lap, flipping lazily through its pages as if lovingly admiring his work and chidingly prompting him to continue his studies.

The boy looked down and huffed as he prepared to turn back to the page he had been pretending to read when his hand paused, and he took in the illustration on the page. The small figure looked as real and human as any person Dipper had seen in the past two weeks barring Mabel (which only left Grunkle Stan and the goat) and the two sets of handwriting littering the page brought back fond memories of the first time Dipper and Mabel teamed up to face the supernatural.

The gnome staring up at him looked far more threatening than Jeff, but less intimidating than the giant monster they all formed when attacking in formation. Dipper chuckled as he remembered Mabel's doubt in this room, and the fear he had felt when he thought Norman was a zombie, and the strange yet adorable hope his sister had held onto that her mysterious boyfriend might actually be a vampire. Mabel had fallen in love with the supernatural arguably faster than he did, and not even she could deny that it made her happy, as happy as she had ever been back home in Piedmont.

God, he just had the weird realization that his sister had almost become a queen.

While Dipper's dedication and intellect made him an incredibly avid researcher of the paranormal, Mabel's bright quirks and brilliant personality allowed her to shine as the princess Dipper always saw in her among even the shiniest rainbow-barfing gnomes and beautiful fairies. Before he knew it he was flooded by memories of Mabel crying in their room back home: days watching her being picked on by peers as judgemental and hateful as Pacifica Northwest but without the money or the history doused Dipper's nostalgic mood like a bucket of cold water, reminding him of why he  _hated_  the idea of going back to Piedmont.

For all of their memories there Mabel should hate it too.

Sure, there were good moments there, just as there were bad ones in Gravity Falls. But the sweetest times they had together were based on just that: their relationship, and the adversaries here were almost exclusively humans who tried to keep them apart. Dipper didn't want to go back to the life of being in classes separate from his sister, of walking alone while she clung to her three or four good friends, only to have her clinging to him in tears later when they had a falling out. There were reasons that Gravity Falls was better than Piedmont, that the magic hidden within the forests would make for better adventures than the horrors of the middle school halls, and the more Dipper considered it, the louder the sound of the breeze and buzzing of life outdoors made him want to grab his sister and carry her into the woods until he could convince her to stay.

She would love it once she said yes.

There were plenty of places in the forest where they could hide from anyone looking for them. The bunker was known only by Wendy and Soos, and while the two Mystery Shack employees would surely drag them back if they were found, as long as the twins waited for them to search the fallout shelter before hiding there they would never be discovered. Until then the twins could easily hide with some of the allies they had made. If entire cultures, like the gnomes and the manotaurs, were able to hide from human eyes why couldn't they? Not to mention the entire section of the Journal dedicated to edible berries of the mundane and magical variety: the Mystery Twins had all they needed to survive and prosper in the forests of Gravity Falls.

Speaking of the gnomes… Dipper felt a smile pull at his lips as he traced the image on the page, proud of his own ingenuity. The gnomes would be more than happy to help their queen settle into the forest. Don't get him wrong, Dipper still thought the gnomes were extremely creepy, and he wouldn't force or even encourage Mabel to stay or marry them unless she wanted to, but how could he blame them for loving his sister (in their own twisted way) and seeing her as the royalty that she was in her brother's eyes?

Most importantly, they had proven that they could easily carry her away, and were willing to work with people who could negotiate. Gideon had also shown that as long as he kept a dog whistle or a leaf-blower on him, they shouldn't pose a threat in the long run. Getting Jeff to agree to his deal would be a bit of a challenge, but somehow Dipper knew the gnome wouldn't be able to resist the promise of Mabel's hand in marriage, and her brother's 'blessing' was a good place to start.

She was his sister, after all, and she was irresistible.

The plan was swimming in Dipper's mind, making him feel weak in the knees from both giddiness and that annoying tingle of sleeping limbs as he shook his legs out, already envisioning a world where he would never have to leave Gravity Falls, could spend his entire live chasing its secrets and spending lazy summer days with Mabel. Grabbing his flashlight and the Journal with a smile, Dipper leaned forward and blew out the triangular yellow flame, bathing the room in the dark blue of night that came hours before the dawn.

He looked over at his still sleeping sister, and let the grin nearly split his face as his heart swelled with love and anticipation. Blowing her a kiss as he left, the boy who was first and foremost her brother whispered, "Sweet dreams, Mabel. I'll make them all come true when you wake."

**Author's Note:**

> Final note: I'm going to mark this as complete for now because I don't have anything planned for more and I am terrible with updating promised stories already, but I've had a good track record with my one other sentence expansion of making it into a multichapter collection, so feel free to leave requests/suggestions if you want to see more of this!
> 
> Finally, I haven't made a note in Boscaresque yet, but I am open to asks for expansions on any of my sentence stories. I can't guarantee it'll be a full oneshot, or even a drabble, but at the very least I'll write up some of my thought process and where it would go if I had time/muse to write more. This is the shorter of the two requests I've done though, if that tells you something about your odds.


End file.
